Perth mums endanger children by drinking alcohol while pregnant

Camera IconSurveys suggest up to 60 per cent of Australian women drank during pregnancy.Picture: Pexels/Pixabay

Alcohol-damaged children are a hidden epidemic, including in Perth’s western suburbs where women “from the chardonnay set” drink while pregnant, according to an expert.

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder researcher Carmela Pestell said many children were undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with ADHD and other behavioural and learning disorders.

It was a myth that FASD only affected Aboriginal populations, with surveys suggesting up to 60 per cent of Australian women drank during pregnancy, despite national health guidelines stating they should abstain.

Associate Professor Pestell, clinic director at the University of WA’s school of psychological science and Telethon Kids Institute researcher, is giving a free public lecture in Perth on July 19, as part of the Australian Psychological Society’s Bringing Psychology to the People initiative.

She said children from all cultural backgrounds could have FASD.

“There’s a huge level of denial and there are a lot of children sitting in our classrooms with learning disabilities because their mothers drank during pregnancy,” Professor Pestell said.

“They look normal, they look like everybody else and yet they have a whole range of emotional, behavioural and thinking problems.

“It’s another myth that only people from low socio-economic groups struggle with addiction, when we know that people who can afford wine and spirits — the chardonnay set from the western suburbs — are also affected.”

Children from middle to high-income groups were less likely to be diagnosed because often their families could afford resources such as tutors, private schools and therapy.

The children had far more intervention and treatment so the condition often went unnoticed.

Professor Pestell theorised that some people had a higher “cognitive reserve” so were brighter to start.

“Even if they suffer some brain damage because of alcohol, they come out as “high average” and no one thinks anything of it, but these are children who are never going to fulfil their full potential,” she said.

“The strange thing is people don’t fill up a baby bottle with alcohol and feed it to their baby so why do they think it’s OK when they’re pregnant?

“It’s the same with breastfeeding mums. They’re given a bottle of champagne yet they’re breastfeeding and passing it on to the new baby.”

There was denial among doctors and health professionals, who sometimes told women it was safe to drink a small amount, she said.

They were also reluctant to diagnose FASD because of concerns about the repercussions on the family.